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Suggestions for Beginning Genealogists

Home and Family Sources

Begin With Yourself...
A primary rule in starting genealogical research is to begin with yourself and go backwards through the generations, collecting as much information as you can from family members and records. This provides a solid basis for future searching and gives clues on the dates and localities in the lives of earlier generations.

  1. Talk with your relatives about the family. This may be as formal as a taped interview, or just a chat. Take notes whenever possible. Become familiar with and record family stories and traditions, which can serve as leads for future research, but do not accept traditions as absolute facts.
  2. Gather together all the sources of family information that you have at home, such as birth certificates, photos, diaries, military records, and newspaper announcements of births, marriages, and deaths. You may even want to consider storing them in a fireproof container.
Record the Information
Now that you have gathered family information, you are ready to record it.
  1. The first step is to learn to write the information in a way that is consistent with standard genealogical styles. The examples below show the standard genealogical styles for writing names, dates, and places. Genealogists use these styles because they prevent confusion.

    Examples:

    • Name: The full name is given, starting with the first name. Many genealogists record the surname in capital letters to avoid confusion with first names. Nicknames, if important, are inserted just before the surname, and put in quotation marks:

      Harriet Ward BEECHER
      James Earl "Jimmy" CARTER, Jr.
      Dwight David "Ike" EISENHOWER
      John Paul JONES

      If part of the name is not known, leave a blank or draw a line where the unknown part should go. If an entire name is not known, leave the space blank or draw a line.

      Thomas __________ "Stonewall" JACKSON

    • Dates: Dates are written military style: day, month, year. Months may sometimes be abbreviated:

      20 October 1770 or 20 Oct 1770
      1 March 1842 or 1 Mar 1842
      16 May 1871

      If part or all of the date is not known, draw a line where the information should go.

      __October 1770
      1 Mar       ____

    • Places: Places are written to include all basic political units, going from the smallest to the largest. This generally means that the order is: town or township, county, state or province, country (when necessary).

      County government was never strong in Connecticut and was abolished in 1960; vital records and land records are kept by the town clerk. However, knowing the county where an event took place can be very important when trying to obtain Connecticut census information or documentation from other states and countries.

      Vernon, Tolland, CT
      Seattle, King, Washington
      Calamus Twp., Dodge, Wisconsin
      Pierre, Dakota Territory, USA
      Frouard, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France

      It is important to remember that boundaries for governmental units may have changed with the years. Record the event in the unit it was in at the time of the event in question.

      If part of the location is unknown, draw a line where the information should go.

      Portland, ______, ME
      ________, Litchfield, CT

    • Abbreviations: Some standard genealogical abbreviations that you will need to know are given below.
      • b. = born
      • bp. = birthplace or baptized, depending on context
      • bur. = buried
      • c. or chr. = christened
      • c. or ca. = approximately (ca. 1800 = about, approximately 1800: from the Latin "circa" = about)
      • d. = died
      • dp. = place of death
      • m. = married
      • mar. = married
      • mp. = place of marriage
    • Use standard postal abbreviations for states.
  2. Now that you know how to write genealogical information, you are ready to place it on standard genealogical forms. Two of the most common standard genealogical forms are the pedigree chart and the family group sheet. Sample forms are included in:

    Bell, James B. Family History Record Book. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1980 [CSL call number HistRef CS 16 .B358].

    Dollarhide, William. Managing a Genealogical Project: A Complete Manual for the Management and Organization of Genealogical Materials. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1988 [CSL call number CS 16 .D64 1988].

    These forms can also be home-made, purchased through genealogical societies such as the Connecticut Society of Genealogists or the New England Historic Genealogical Society, purchased through a genealogical supply company, or are found as part of a computer genealogy program.

    • The pedigree or ancestral chart is a chart that starts with you as individual number one and shows parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc., back a number of generations. It shows parents only, not full families. Enter basic information (birth, marriage, death) on your direct ancestors (grandparents, etc.) on a pedigree chart.
    • The family group sheet shows one family -- parents and children. Enter name, and dates and places of birth, marriage, and death for each individual. Be neat and accurate. Be sure to include the exact source and location of each piece of information.
  3. It is best to keep long or detailed stories on individuals or families in a separate binder for that person or surname. The pedigree charts and family group sheets are only designed to hold basic facts.
  4. Above all, be patient. Undertaking a family history has been compared to putting together a jigsaw puzzle. Sometimes hours or days may go by without finding a piece that fits, but gradually bits of information from here and there are pieced together to produce an overall picture of a family.
Library and Archival Sources

Useful Introductory Books
The following lists include useful books with suggestions on how to organize your material. They also discuss various types of records to search to find missing pieces of family information:

Published Sources
Consult published sources such as family genealogies, local histories, and city directories. Check the Connecticut State Library catalog for books available for use here. (Note that most genealogies and local histories are not available on interlibrary loan.)

The International Genealogical Index
The beginning genealogist may save some time in finding records by consulting the International Genealogical Index (IGI). The computerized version of this index, available at the Connecticut State Library, LDS Family History Centers, other large genealogical libraries, and through the Family Search website, lists over 200 million names from records around the world, with concentrations in North America, Mexico, Great Britain, and Europe. Names are placed in the IGI by researchers or through name extraction programs. If your ancestor is in the IGI, you may be able to find the date and place of his or her birth, marriage, and/or death.

Original Sources
There are many types of original sources. Examples and suggestions for research may be found in many of the books included in A List of Some Suggested "How-to" Books for Family History. It is best to begin with vital records (births, marriages, and deaths) and church records, before moving on to Bible records, census records, newspaper marriage notices and death notices, headstone inscriptions, probate records, military records, and tax records.

Research Tips

Record Your Sources
There are few things more frustrating for researchers and librarians trying to assist them than not being able to re-locate information because no notation or an incomplete notation of its source was made. Record your sources for all notes, photocopies, and microfilm printouts. For published sources include the title, author, volume, page, place, and date of publication. For archival and manuscript sources include the box or volume number, record group, or library classification number, and record group or item title. For microfilmed material, be sure to include the microfilm reel number.

Keep a Research Log
Keep a list of all names searched and sources consulted. Knowing what you have already searched helps prevent duplication of effort. Headings for a typical research log are:

Definitions
Remember that meanings of words have changed over time. As examples, "brother" could once mean "brother-in-law"; "cousin" usually was a generic term for any relative; "son-in-law" could mean what we know today as "stepson"; "in-law", in the past could mean anyone related by marriage; "father-in-law" and "mother-in-law" could mean what we now know as step-parents.

"Junior" and "Senior" did not always refer to a father-son relationship; but may have distinguished an uncle and nephew, or older cousin and younger cousin. If there were three individuals named John Jones in a town, the oldest was commonly designated John Jones, Sr.; the next oldest John Jones, Jr. or 2nd; and the youngest John Jones, 3rd, with each moving up a position as the older individual(s) died or moved from town. Women were also sometimes called "Junior" and "Senior".

Names and Naming Patterns

Note any information on the surname(s) you are tracing even if a connection has not yet been made to the specific family you are researching. The information may eventually tie into your line.

One pattern in British countries and colonial America was to name the oldest son after the father's father; the second son after the mother's father; the eldest daughter after the mother's mother; and the second daughter after the father's mother.

Be aware of nicknames, i.e., Nancy for Anna; Polly for Mary; Sally for Sarah. A father transferring land to a daughter Nancy in a town's land records and leaving money to a daughter Anna in his will may actually be making reference to the same daughter. See A Listing of Some 18th and 19th Century Nicknames.

Don't overlook variations in spelling of names. The way in which names were spelled could vary with the clerk, recorder, or census taker. Even signatures varied from document to document. William "Johnson" and "Jonson" may be the same person.

Transcription errors do occur, even in heavily utilized resources such as the Barbour Collection and Hale Collection. If you don't find a name in the "obvious" place, try variations, e.g.:

Daniel vs. Samuel vs. Lemuel
Amie vs. Anna

If the name began with a vowel or an "H", look under every vowel:

Hannah vs. Anna

If the name began with a consonant, try looking under each vowel following that consonant:

Brinson vs. Bronson vs. Brunson
Button vs. Bouton
Hale vs. Hall vs. Hull

Watch for additions/deletions in prefixes

Bean vs. MacBean
MacKey vs. Mackey vs. Key vs. Keyes

Localities
When checking card and computer catalogs for maps, published local histories, etc., always check every possible geographical area, i.e., if you want materials about Storrs, Connecticut check:

Storrs (the community)
Mansfield (the town)
Tolland (the county)
Connecticut (the state)

Town and county boundaries have changed markedly over the years. In many instances several towns have been formed from one original large town. For example, Southington, Bristol, Burlington, Berlin, New Britain, and Avon were all originally part of Farmington.

The names of towns have changed over the years, for example:

Chatham to East Hampton
Saybrook to Deep River

See our publication Connecticut Towns and Their Establishment and the following reference books for more information on changes in town and county boundaries and names:

Hughes, Arthur H. and Morse S. Allen. Connecticut Place Names. Hartford: The Connecticut Historical Society, 1976 [CSL call number HistRef F 92 .H83].

Long, John H., ed. Atlas of Historical County Boundaries: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994 [CSL call number HistRef G 1211 .F7 A8 1994].

Prepared by the History and Genealogy Unit, Connecticut State Library, 11-96.